The Bladed Flood
by Alastor Snow
Summary: The story of Seiko's life, a kid who is trained by the great Sasori of the Red Sand.
1. Chapter 1:Life Changing Run In

In a distant village in a distant country, there once lived a child. But he was no ordinary child. This is his story:

A seven-year-old boy walked down a pathway in a park, tossing a pair of large square goggles with a dark-blue tint up and down in his hand. He continued laughing and playing in this way until three bigger kids, around nine or ten years old, blocked his route.

"How's it going, Seiko?" said the one in the middle with a smirk across his face.

Seiko held his goggles tightly across his chest while he backed away from them slowly.

"What do you guys want?" Seiko asked with a scared tone.

Instead of answering, the older kids simply grinned and surrounded him.

"We just want to train with you," said one, while another cracked his knuckles.

"Yeah, we need to train our Taijutsu so that when we get into the academy we can become genin faster."

Seiko looked around in horror, knowing what was about to happen next.

An hour later Seiko lay alone on the ground as the other kids walked away, panting and laughing. A violent cough wracked his body. He looked down at the hand he had used to cover his mouth to see flecks of blood as he clutched his goggles tighter to his chest. He stood up and looked around, noticing that it was nighttime. He sighed and staggered home.

"I can't believe it," he said to himself angrily. "This is the third time I've been beaten senseless by them."

Seiko managed to stagger a couple more feet before suddenly hearing a distant scream. He looked in the direction it came from but couldn't see anything other than trees. He kept walking, the scream planted firmly in his memory, until he found himself in the village's nearly empty plaza.

Looking to his left, he saw an ominous male figure with red hair wearing a black cloak. The man was standing over a woman lying in a pool of blood. Seiko's eyes widened in horror as he realized the woman was dead, and the red-haired man was the reason she got that way. Seiko started to step back, trying to escape before the murderer noticed him, but he tripped and fell. This attracted the attention of the redheaded man, who looked over in time to see Seiko sprawled on the ground. Seiko stared back up at him, noting the smooth features across his face, and his eyes; eyes that showed no life, yet seemed to display eternal intelligence all at the same time.

"Well," said the man nonchalantly, "I guess I'll have to deal with you as well. Better yet, I'll just do what I came here to do."

With that, his cloak dropped to the ground, revealing almost wing-like blades surgically attached to his back. A coil protruded from his stomach, along with several scrolls also affixed to his back. But the thing about this man that really drew Seiko's attention was the cylinder embedded in his chest right where his heart should have been. Seiko scrambled to his feet and scanned the area for anyone who could help him but realized to his dismay that he was completely alone. He spun around and started to run, but found his path blocked by another man wearing a matching black cloak and a hood standing in his way.

"Now, just where do you think you're going, kid?" asked the red-haired murderer. "The fun hasn't even begun yet."

Seiko turned to face him and saw not only the redheaded man but also at least a hundred other men floating around him, dressed identically to the second man. Seiko viewed the vast number of them in terror as he suddenly found himself screaming for help at the top of his lungs. Through his fear, Seiko observed the red-haired man, noticing for the first time that there was an opening in his chest. A thousand blue strings extended from this crevice, attached on their other ends to various body parts of the men above him.

"Kid, I came here to invade and destroy your village. What makes you think yelling for someone is going to change anything?" the man asked with a smirk.

The hooded man behind Seiko raised his arm. Seiko glanced behind himself as a formidable blade sprung from the man's arm and swung down at him. Seiko extended his own arms upwards in a childishly hopeful attempt at saving himself as he waited for the sword to strike him. Thirty painfully slow seconds without being sliced in two later, he looked up. The hooded man's arm and sword had stopped mid-swing, and several blue, glowing strings now ran from his arm down to the tips of Seiko's fingers.

"Well, whaddaya know? He can make chakra strings at quite a young age, and pretty damn powerful ones, too, if he can stop my puppet," the red-haired man said with mild interest.

Hearing this, Seiko examined the hooded man in front of him and realized both that his joints were mechanical, and that there was no life behind his eyes.

"Is this… a puppet?" Seiko asked.

The puppet raised its other arm to create yet another sword, with which he immediately struck Seiko down.

A new man appeared from nowhere and kicked the puppet in the torso. The force of the kick was powerful enough to shatter the body of the puppet and send its limbs clattering to the ground. Seiko's chakra strings dissipated. He knew just from looking at how fast and how powerful this newcomer was that he must be a ninja from his country's ninja village. Leaving the ninja behind to fight the army of remaining puppets, Seiko took this opportunity to run for his life. The red-haired man chuckled, and the strings attached to his chest began to move and to send commands to his puppets. The puppets, in turn, collectively drew out swords of all shapes and sizes. They descended upon the town, killing and burning everything in their path. Soon one was right on Seiko's tail. As he looked back, Seiko felt himself speeding up as though an invisible force was pushing him forward. The puppet swung his sword at him, but Seiko ducked, almost losing his balance, but recovered to keep running. Seiko wasn't fast enough to outrun the puppet completely, and it was determined to cut him down. It slashed wildly at him, and Seiko barely avoided but one slice, which grazed his leg. In spite of this, Seiko kept running as fast as he could, going anywhere and everywhere.

After about ten minutes, he looked behind him to see the puppet had disappeared. Seiko started to feel weak, and seconds later he collapsed. He crawled over to the nearest wall and leaned up against it, looking out at the village. He couldn't see much because he had run to a suburban area and there were houses in the way; but he could see the faint orange glow of fires glimmering behind the houses of the village. He heard screams and calls for help in the distance, and he looked around to see deep gashes in the houses in front of him. _So this neighborhood's already been attacked,_ Seiko concluded in his head. His energy seemed to be slipping away, even as he leaned against the wall. He knew for a fact the small amount of running he had done far from explained his current physical state.

"You've been poisoned."

Seiko looked up to see the red-haired man sitting on the wall that he was leaning against.

"Your body is reacting to the poison that my puppet's blade put into your system and very soon you will die."

The look in his eyes as he glared down at Seiko's broken state was something close to disdain.

"Wh-why?" Seiko stuttered, consciousness slipping from him.

"Why did I destroy your village, you ask? It's simple really. All of this madness was brought about in order to make a point to this damned country of yours."

Seiko shook his head and said, "Why, though? You don't seem like the kind of guy who cares enough to attack an entire country for the sole purpose of making a point."

The man's eyes narrowed in response to Seiko's statement.

"Hm, I guess on a regular day, you'd be right. I'm not really the type of guy who enjoys spilling innocent blood just for the sake of killing. That's a nice thought, there, kiddo."

"I may only be seven-years-old, but I'm smarter than you think," Seiko said with a grin.

"Is that a fact? What's your name, kid?"

After a moment, he answered, "Seiko. Seiko Ren. And you?"

The red-haired man kept staring at Seiko, but eventually answered, "My name is Sasori. Sasori of the Red Sand."

Seiko pondered this for a moment, and then asked, "Sasori of the Red Sand? I've heard of you."

"That's pretty impressive, considering this country is a little far off from the Five Great Nations," Sasori said with a smile.

Seiko felt woozy and was close to fainting at this point.

"Say kid, you seem kind of relaxed knowing that your entire village has been slaughtered. Why is that?" Sasori asked.

Seiko gave him a little grin, but kept silent.

"I don't like to be kept waiting," Sasori said, his voice filled with malice.

Seiko chuckled bitterly. "Because I'm just a human bulls-eye in this village," Seiko said. "Everyone bullies me. Even my parents think that I'm a freak, just because I'm a little bit smarter than a regular seven year old. And if even my own parents don't care about me, why should I care for anyone else here?" He chuckled again. "Isn't that an awful thing to say?"

As soon as his last word passed his lips, he keeled over and passed out.

Sasori studied him for a while. At last, he too laughed.

"What an interesting kid."

He jumped down and picked Seiko up.

"Maybe I can do more than just make you a part of my collection."

With this, Sasori started off towards the exit of the village, passing corpses and burning buildings while smiling in satisfaction over day's proceedings. His smile soon faded as Seiko's question echoed in his head, _"Isn't that awful to say?" _

As soon as he left the village his smile returned.

"Yes, it's an absolutely awful thing to say. But maybe that's the kind of thing that'll keep you alive. Only time will tell, I suppose."

As if in response to Sasori's words, Seiko clutched the blue goggles he carried with him even tighter.


	2. Chapter 2:First Training Lessons

"Gahhh!" Seiko woke up with a gasp and looked around. He found himself in a round room that seemed to resemble a cave. There were no stalagmites or stalactites, but the stone around him just struck him to be natural. After a moment, he said, "What happened to me?" And then, a sudden flash of memory erupted in his mind, and everything that had happened back at his village came rushing back to him. But this gave rise to another question. "How did I get here?" he asked out loud.

"That would be because of me, Kid."

Seiko looked towards the now open door to the room to find Sasori leaning against a wall. "You actually owe me your life, considering I didn't just give you an antidote, but I also gave you medical attention," Sasori informed him.

But Seiko didn't listen to him; instead he was looking around frantically. "Where are my goggles?" he asked Sasori with a glare.

"Calm down, Kid, I have them. Wait here and I'll go get them," Sasori responded, and he turned to walk out.

"I'll get them," Seiko said. He tried to stand up, but a rush of dizziness washed over him, causing him to fall back down.

"Don't push yourself, Kid. You still need a couple days of rest for the poison to leave your system, otherwise you'll be back right where you started." With this, Sasori left the room, closing the door behind him. He came back several minutes later and threw the goggles at Seiko, who caught them and held them tight. "What's with your fascination with those things? You didn't let go of them even when you were about to die," Sasori said curiously.

Seiko was hesitant about talking to him, but he finally said, "There's nothing special about them…I guess…think of it as a blankie or something."

After a moment of silence Sasori started to laugh. "A blankie? Are you serious? I knew you were a little kid, but I didn't expect you to be a baby." He continued his fit of laughter, but was then cut off by Seiko's question.

"Why did you save me?" he asked as he looked into Sasori's lifeless eyes.

Sasori immediately stopped laughing, and he leaned back against the wall with a sigh. "Call it a whim, I suppose."

"You don't seem like the kind of guy to do things on a whim," Seiko responded.

"Well, I am," Sasori informed him.

Seiko sighed himself, and then laid back down. "I guess it doesn't matter…why should I find an answer about why you didn't kill me? Shouldn't I just be happy that I'm alive?" he asked to no one in particular.

Sasori started to walk out the room, but on his way out, he said, "When you can start to move freely again, you will find new clothes in the closet, along with a bathroom to your left." He then walked out the room and shut the door. He turned to see a slender man with brown hair, standing with his back against the wall.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"It went surprisingly well," Sasori answered as the two of them walked down the hall.

The man followed next to him and said, "If I may ask, what do you see in him? He doesn't look like much."

Sasori sighed and said, "That's exactly it. He doesn't look like much at all, but that kid has some interesting tricks up his sleeves that could make him a great asset to me. Not only that, it would be a waste to kill a kid who has such promising potential in the Puppet Master Jutsu."

The man nodded and said, "I see now, but Lord Sasori, why bother calling me to this base?"

"I thought you would figure it out, but looks like I was wrong. You will train him in basic ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. You will also take care of him while I run errands for the Akatsuki and personal matters. Oh, and Tadashi…don't let him leave the base without someone of S-rank or higher to escort him. Understood?"

Tadashi stopped and looked at Sasori with a confused expression. "Are you really so afraid he will be too hard to confine?" he asked.

Sasori was now at the entryway of his base, which had been hollowed out of a cave. An endless forest surrounded the outside. "Personally, I don't think he's stupid enough to run away, seeing as he knows full well there's nowhere to run to. My only concern is that I don't want him to get attacked by my enemies, or worse…get himself discovered by the Akatsuki."

"Lord Sasori, why do you think they would even be concerned by an apprentice of yours?" Tadashi asked.

Sasori sighed and left Tadashi at the entrance. Tadashi went back inside, even more confused than he had been before the conversation. "It's not my place to ask questions," he told himself as he headed into his own quarters to await Seiko's recovery.

Just like Sasori had said, Seiko was feeling much better after a couple days of rest. "Now to find out what I'm even going to do here," he whispered to himself as he stretched his arms and legs. He went over to the closet to find a lot of different kinds of clothes waiting to be picked. Seiko found it strange that all the articles of clothing were his size, but he didn't think much of it and picked out his attire. When he was done he had on a dark-blue cloak with the hood over his head, a pair of gray pants, and a ninja utility belt around his waist. Seiko walked out the door of the room to find Tadashi there waiting for him. Seiko backed up and looked up at the man, a bead of sweat dripping down his face.

"Hello, young master, my name is Tadashi Yurumeru. I guess you can say I will be your caretaker and sensei while Lord Sasori is away," the man said kindly.

Seiko studied him for a while before saying, "Sensei? What do you plan on teaching me?"

Tadashi smiled and said, "Well, the plan is to train you in basic shinobi skills."

Seiko sighed and said, "Why do I need any ninja training?"

"Lord Sasori wishes for you to be his apprentice," Tadashi answered.

"Why would he want me to be his apprentice?" Seiko asked.

Tadashi's smile slowly faded as he said, "You ask a lot of questions, Boy."

Seiko grinned and said, "I was wondering when you were going to show your true colors."

With a look of confusion on his face, Tadashi said, "What do you mean, young master?"

Seiko chuckled a bit and said, "Well, first of all, you grit your teeth every time you call me that, and anyway I can easily see that you don't want me here. That's fine, I can handle your negative emotions, but if you're going to be my caretaker than I think we should be on better grounds."

"And how do we go about that?" Tadashi asked.

"Stop calling me young master for one, Seiko will be fine. Second is that you don't need to be mean to me just because your boss likes me more, because I can't control what he likes and dislikes, so it's better just to accept things the way they are. For example, you haven't heard me complain about being kidnapped by him and being made his apprentice without my permission, have you?"

Tadashi listened to Seiko, surprised that a kid could give him any kind of advice, and after awhile of thinking he realized that Seiko indeed hadn't said a single word about his situation. If a seven-year-old could be fine with the cards he was dealt, then why couldn't he? Tadashi's smile returned and he said, "I see your point, youn-I mean Seiko. So why don't we put this behind us and get to your first day of training?"

Seiko nodded in agreement and followed Tadashi to the training room inside the base. "So what's the first step?" Seiko asked. Tadashi went over to a table in the corner of the room, and when he walked back he handed Seiko several kunai knives and shurikens. "Weapons?" Seiko asked, and he looked at Tadashi for answers.

"Yes, weapons," Tadashi confirmed. "Just put them in your belt for weapon training later, but first we will be doing Taijutsu training."

"Taijutsu?" Seiko asked with a confused look on his face.

"Yes. Taijutsu is jutsu that requires no chakra, so in other terms it's little more than weapon use and martial arts."

"I'm sorry to say, but I'm not good at fighting…at all," Seiko informed him.

Tadashi laughed and said, "Its fine, nothing a little training and sparring practice can't fix." And with that, Tadashi took a fighting stance. "So let's see what you can do, Seiko," he suggested.

Seiko sighed and came at Tadashi with a volley of poorly aimed punches, which Tadashi dodged with ease. "Come on, it can't be that hard to try to get a good hit in," Tadashi implored. Seiko kept trying, but it only ended up with him on the ground. "Well, you're still a beginner, so I can't expect much from you yet," Tadashi commented.

Seiko was panting from the practice, but they continued for awhile longer, until after four hours they called it a day. Two weeks passed by, which consisted of little else but sparring practice between Seiko and Tadashi. During one session, Seiko was on the ground with Tadashi standing over him, his arms crossed and his head shaking in disappointment. Sasori was leaning against a wall, watching his pupil perform the basic training. "Lord Sasori," Tadashi said, "I'm sorry to say, but Seiko here has almost no potential in Taijutsu…he hasn't even been able to throw a proper punch in the past weeks we have been training."

Seiko got back to his feet on wobbly legs.

"Come on, Seiko remember how I made you do 100 straight punches…just try to at least use those," Tadashi urged.

Seiko threw out some punches, but they were a sorry sight, and once again Tadashi dodged them all. "That's enough of that, why don't we try weapons or ninjutsu training," Sasori suggested.

Tadashi nodded and said, "I agree, Lord Sasori."

Seiko finally spoke up and said, "Can't I have a break?" The instant the words escaped his lips he was suddenly pinned to the ground by his shirt sleeve. When he looked at it he saw a kunai pinning him to the ground, which was then shortly followed by other kunai, which pinned the rest of his body. Sasori walked over and bent down next to Seiko.

"You can have a break when I declare it…you are the student, so act like one instead of a damn baby. If I hear it again I will add you to my collection." After this threat, he left the room while Tadashi removed the kunai so that they could enter the next stage of training. But Seiko didn't listen much to Tadashi's explanation on chakra control and molding. Instead he was pondering why his Master would even bother with him.

_He seems like the kind of guy to have a plan but…I don't see what plan could involve training a seven-year-old to be a ninja. I wonder what he sees in me, _

Seiko thought to himself. _Oh, well, I guess I'll find out soon enough._ With this, Seiko turned his attention back to Tadashi, who went on and on about ninjutsu training.


	3. Chapter 3:Puppeteering Talent

Several months had passed since Seiko began his training. Tadashi had tutored him in just about everything involving basic shinobi training, all except for weapon use. "Listen up, Seiko, Lord Sasori wants you to pay special attention on weapon training. You remember me talking briefly of it earlier during our sessions, so let me go a little more in-depth. First you have your basic kunai knives, which are mainly used for close-range combat, but they can also be useful as projectiles," Tadashi explained. He then demonstrated how to throw a kunai knife, while Seiko paid rapt attention. "Next you have your shurikens, which are fast, small, and the best for any mid to long range fighting." He then demonstrated how to throw these as well. "We also have your basic smoke bombs, food pills, and paper bombs."

Seiko seemed to perk up when he heard the word 'bomb'. "What's a paper bomb, Tadashi?" he asked interestedly.

Tadashi reached in his belt and pulled out a sliver of paper with characters written all over it. "It's a special bomb that will stick to surfaces, and is set to explode at a certain time. However, it can also be used with a tripwire to make traps, or even to gain an edge in fighting by adding it to a kunai, like this." He then pulled out a kunai knife and wrapped the paper bomb around the handle. He then threw it at a wooden dummy, and the moment it hit, the bomb exploded violently, leaving nothing but shards of smoking wood.

Seiko's eyes lit up with amazement, and his face wore a huge grin. "Can you show me more about that!" he asked Tadashi.

"Later, perhaps, but we need to continue on to coating your blade with poison. Lord Sasori says that this will be crucial on your training with him in the future."

Seiko sighed and listened, but was distracted by the thoughts of his new bombs he would get to carry.

"After you have the poison on the blade, make sure you don't cut yourself with it for obvious reasons. In case this does happen make sure you have an antidote with you at all times," Tadashi finished. Seiko nodded with a bored expression on his face. "Seiko, this is the thing you should be getting excited about. Not blowing things up. A puppet master relies on poisoning their opponent so that they get an extraordinary advantage with a single cut!" Tadashi said impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah, but I've been poisoned before, and I can agree that it helps, but I personally just don't think it's the best thing you can do. I think those paper bombs sound much more efficient at taking out an enemy. I mean you could blow their arm off, or even kill them instantly, instead just of waiting for them to die after you cut them," Seiko said in a bored tone.

Sasori walked in the room and looked at Seiko with eyes that froze Seiko in his tracks. "Seiko, I don't think you get it. Poison is the best way to go for a puppet master. We have hidden blades and projectiles that can easily give out a scratch, but any descent ninja knows how to dodge a blade, so having poison to fall back on is the appropriate plan," he explained. He then walked over to a wall and leaned on it, as he usually did, waiting for a response from his pupil.

"I'm sorry to disagree, Sasori-sensei, but I still think that if you have something that explodes, even if they dodge the attack, they could still get hit," Seiko pressed.

Sasori's eyes narrowed at Seiko's answer, but he then sighed and said, "Seiko, learn about poisons. I don't want to keep hearing about this exploding nonsense."

"It's not nonsense! You watch, I'll make the best puppet ever, and its main form of attacks will be with those paper bombs!" Seiko then shut his lips after he realized how he spoke to his ruthless sensei. Sasori gave Seiko a long and menacing stare, but he left the room quietly.

"Well…that went better than I had anticipated," Tadashi said with a bead of sweat rolling down his face.

Seiko nodded grimly in agreement. "So how about we learn more about those bombs?" he suggested.

"Seiko, did you not just hear Lord Sasori? You must learn poisons, not about making explosions!" Tadashi reminded him.

"You obviously misheard him, Tadashi-sensei," Seiko had a grin from under the shadow of his cloak. "He said I just needed to learn about poisons…he didn't forbid me from learning about bombs, just so long as I learn poisons he should be satisfied."

Tadashi uttered a long sigh, and stared at Seiko. After a moment, he said, "I suppose you're right, but let's save that for later. First let's do some shuriken and kunai training before we even begin to talk about using dangerous explosives." Seiko nodded and pulled out his weapons to begin practicing.

After several hours had passed and the wooden dummies were covered in kunais and shurikens, Seiko was rubbing his arms, which were tired from the constant throwing. "Very good, Seiko. It seems what you lack in Taijutsu you make up for in your weapon skills," Tadashi observed.

"Thanks!" Seiko said with a smile.

"But I think we will stop today's training," Tadashi informed him.

Seiko looked up at Tadashi with a confused expression. "Why would we need to do that so soon? we usually do this for at least five more hours," he said to Tadashi.

"Truth be told, Seiko, Lord Sasori has a surprise for you…that's assuming, of course, your outburst didn't make him change his mind on giving it to you."

Seiko adjusted his goggles, which were falling off from all the practicing, and left the training room, wondering what his master had waiting for him. Seiko wandered the base for a long time looking for his Master. When he finally found him, Sasori was in a bright room with puppet parts hanging from the walls. Seiko figured this must have been his workshop. "Hello, Sasori-sensei." Seiko greeted respectfully. Sasori didn't say anything, and instead he messed with a torso of a puppet body. Seiko got closer to Sasori to inspect in further detail of his project. "What are you doing?" he asked, but Sasori was quiet until he picked up the torso and hung it up on the wall.

"I have something for you Seiko, follow me." Sasori said without looking at him. He got up from his desk, and then made for the exit. Seiko's grin was hiding from the shadow of his hood, but it was still obvious to Sasori.

"Okay!" Seiko exclaimed, and he followed Sasori into the hallway. They passed roughly a dozen rooms until they went into one which looked much like the room they had just come from, except this room was empty.

"This will be your personal workshop, Seiko. Make sure nobody comes in here to inspect your work. That includes me. Part of being a great puppet master is not allowing anybody to see your secrets, even your allies."

Seiko nodded and inspected the room, but said, "Then how will you know if I'm doing a good job?"

"That will be made clear after I see you fight," Sasori responded. With this, he turned around and walked out of the room. "You will find beginners instructions, tools, and parts in the back closet," Sasori informed him. He then reached into his pocket and tossed something to Seiko. Seiko caught the item and saw that it was a key. "That's the only key to this room, so take care of it. I would also suggest setting up traps around here, because I plan on checking your security in the next month," Sasori warned him.

Seiko put the key in his belt, and went to the back closet to gather some scrolls. "So I guess I am officially your apprentice, right?" Seiko asked hopefully.

Sasori chuckled before he closed the door, and said, "You could say that."

With this, he left Seiko by himself to get to work. Seiko looked at his array of puppet parts and weapon attachments, and sighed. _This is a lot to take in at once,_ he thought to himself. "Well…time to prove that I can make a puppet that doesn't use poison!" he said excitedly.

Two months of nonstop training passed, and Seiko finally started his training with Sasori. "Okay, Seiko, let's start with pulling out weapons from your puppet in combat scenarios," Sasori suggested.

Seiko used the Puppet Master Jutsu on his new puppet, but looked confused. "Why do I need to start fighting? I only just learned how to move it correctly a couple days ago."

"That's all you need to know for now. I want you to be able to kill someone with your puppet as soon as you can, so you might as well start early," Sasori told him. Seiko gulped at the words 'kill someone,' but shrugged it off and nodded. "Tadashi, if you will," Sasori said to no one.

Without a single noise, Tadashi appeared next to Sasori. "Of course, Lord Sasori," he said, and he took out a kunai and took a fighting stance.

"Remember your delay Seiko, if you can't get your timing down you will die," Sasori said to Seiko grimly.

Seiko then made the first move by sending his puppet flying towards Tadashi, and as soon as it came within five feet of him, a cylinder that was sharpened to a point came out of the puppet's mouth, aimed right for Tadashi's torso. Tadashi used his kunai to block the puppet's weapon, but struggled for a moment with it before countering it with a kick. _Once again his strings are impressively strong. It takes talent to be able to stand up to a chunin-level ninja,_ Sasori thought to himself. Seiko's puppet soon recovered, and about twenty shurikens shot out of its torso at Tadashi, who jumped out of the way. He landed on the ground to be greeted by the puppet's fist. Tadashi jumped back, and was taken by surprise by a kunai coming right at his chest.

Tadashi rolled out of the way so that the kunai landed next to him, but his eyes widened, and he was soon on his feet running. The kunai had a paper bomb attached to the handle. Tadashi escaped the brunt of the blast, but the force still knocked him off his feet. Tadashi laid there panting, as he thought to himself, _He's predicting my moves much better than I had anticipated. If I don't step up my game he might kill me. _His brake was soon cut off by Seiko's puppet flying down at him with a long blade coming out of its wrist. Tadashi got up and made the Snake hand sign. "Earth style: Earth Wall!" he exclaimed, and then a solid rock wall appeared in front of him to block the puppets attack.

Tadashi jumped over the wall and threw some kunai of his own at Seiko. Although Seiko's face was hidden by the shadow of his hood, his grin couldn't be more apparent. He sidestepped the kunai and made his puppet jump up towards Tadashi, and Tadashi didn't have enough time to react, so the puppet grabbed him by the neck and threw him down to the ground. Tadashi collided with the ground with great force, and the puppet came flying down, trying to impale Tadashi. The blade on its wrist made its mark, but there was a puff of smoke, and the blade was stuck in a large boulder. Tadashi was right behind Seiko with a blade at his throat.

"Nice job, Seiko. For a moment there you almost had me."

Seiko smiled proudly.

"Where was the poison?" Sasori asked from the corner of the large room.

"Uh, I kind of didn't add it in yet, Sasori-sensei. I don't know a lot about poisons yet to make my own and use it on my puppet," Seiko said guiltily.

"Do you take me for an idiot, Seiko? You have almost fifteen different poisons in your workshop." Seiko was frozen in place, because he knew that he was supposed to have at least one poisonous weapon to satisfy Sasori. Sasori left the room saying, "But I guess it doesn't matter; you still did okay even without the use of poison."

As soon as he was gone, Tadashi said, "Didn't I remind you about putting in some poison before the fight?"

Seiko exhaled from relief that he hadn't been killed by his master and said, "Yeah you did, but I chose not to listen to you."


	4. Chapter 4:New Nuisances

As his life proceeds, we find out his weaknesses and strengths, personalities and ethical codes. As his life proceeds we find him at the age of thirteen.

Seiko was panting heavily as he stood in the middle of a dense forest, facing off against a slouching old man wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it, along with a bandanna covering his face and a large hat. "Don't keep me waiting, Boy," the old man said with a deep, gruff voice. Seiko grinned from under the shadow of his hood and adjusted his goggles, which were on his face covering a large portion of his features.

"You should learn to be a little more patient Sasori-sensei," Seiko responded. Soon a large puppet with strange arms came down at Sasori, and the puppet's right arm had a piston at the elbow and the shoulder while the left arm had almost a hundred slits in it. The right arm was aimed at Sasori. Sasori jumped out of the way, and as soon as the puppet collided with the ground a piston went in and a huge shockwave shook the ground, leaving a crater almost twenty feet wide and six feet deep.

"When will you learn, Seiko? You can't beat me with stupid destructive power," Sasori reminded him.

Seiko sighed and said, "This talk again?" He motioned his puppet to strike Sasori from behind with his left arm, but Sasori jumped into the air. "Not gonna work!" Seiko exclaimed. Medium-sized serrated blades came out of the slits, leaving the arm a completely bladed nightmare, and it flew up towards Sasori, waiting to get in range to cut him into tiny pieces. As soon as the puppet was in place, a long, segmented tail that was sharpened to a point came out of Sasori and slapped the puppet to the ground with incredible force, leaving a dust cloud over the puppet. Sasori landed and chuckled.

"Nice try, Seiko, but you still have a long way to go before you can beat me," he said to him.

_We'll see about that,_

Seiko thought with a grin on his face. Soon several more serrated blades flew out of the dust cloud and pierced Sasori in several places.

"What!" Sasori said with shock on his face. Sasori's eyes widened even more when he saw that the blades had paper bombs wrapped around them. When they exploded debris and shrapnel flew everywhere, and Seiko was looking with marvel at the victory he had just obtained.

"Awesome! I finally showed you that I could make an effective puppet using explosions!" Seiko said excitedly.

Sasori was in a tree, his face showing a mixture of both anger and joy. He brushed some debris out of his red hair and jumped down. "Good going, Seiko, you nearly ruined my Hiruko puppet. It seems Deidara has been preaching his explosion art nonsense to you again," he observed as he examined the puppet closely. "I guess asking you to hold back on the bombs would be a bit redundant," he added rhetorically.

"Come on, Sasori-sensei, that doesn't sound like something you would want me to do," Seiko said with a confused expression on his face.

Sasori walked over to the old man puppet that was lying in ruin. "The torso and limbs seem okay, but the back is destroyed beyond repair," he observed out loud.

Seiko chuckled and said, "Sorry, Sensei, but you always told me to never hold back when sparring."

Sasori walked away from the puppet and walked over to Seiko. "Go into town and get some new parts for me. Here's some money." Sasori handed Seiko a wad of cash that looked like it could be a small fortune.

"Squandering the Akastuki funds on personal reasons Sensei?" Seiko asked with a sly smile.

"Just get going, and Seiko…"

Seiko had already started off, but he yelled back, "Yeah, yeah, I know, don't keep you waiting."

Seiko wasn't more than a quarter of a mile away when a man came down from a tree wearing a Hidden Waterfall Village uniform, with a headband on his belt. "I shall accompany you, Lord Seiko," the man said to him.

"Does it ever get old, betraying your country?" Seiko asked the ninja.

"If it's for Lord Sasori-"

"Then you would do anything, I know," Seiko finished for him. "It's always the same answer with you Jonin servants."

Eventually they arrived in town, and Seiko walked to a small shop. "Wait here," he told the jonin as he walked in. "Yo, old man, are you here?" he called out.

Sure enough there came an elderly man with a nasty scar running down his face. "Ah, Seiko. Running errands for your Master again?" the man asked.

"Yeah, I broke his Hiruko puppet, and he's pissed so now he has me buying some parts." Seiko handed the old man a list. "I'm sure you have them ready. Oh, and did my custom blades come in today?" Seiko asked, getting excited.

The old man took his time reading the list and said, "Yes they did. All four-thousand of them."

Seiko made a fist pump and paid the old man. "Thanks again for getting those for me," Seiko said respectfully.

"No problem, Seiko, just glad that I can serve you and Lord Sasori," the old man responded with a friendly smile. Seiko nodded and grabbed his supplies.

"See you later!" Seiko called out.

"Everything went well, Lord Seiko?" Seiko's guard asked when he saw him.

"Of course, now hold these for me," Seiko said as he handed him the large amount of blades and puppet limbs. The jonin struggled, but walked in pace with Seiko. "I say we take the short cut through the forest," Seiko suggested.

"I think we should just stick to the path Lord Seiko," the guard said. The truth was he only wanted to not have to travel through uneven land and underbrush while carrying a heavy load.

"No, I feel adventurous today, so we'll be taking the forest route," Seiko insisted.

They walked for almost thirty minutes, having to stop occasionally because the ninja would drop everything after he tripped by a root or rock. "Lord Seiko, can we rest?" he asked panting.

Seiko paused for awhile and said, "Sure. I'm feeling tired anyway." He sat down on a rock and sighed. _Jeez…how could I have gotten myself lost, _he thought to himself. _I don't normally get lost…no…I do, but normally the escort tells me where to go like when we went into the village. So how did we get lost on the way back? Because he was carrying everything and couldn't really see where we were going! Damn._ Seiko sighed again and looked around, but couldn't find the nameless jonin. "Hey! Where did you go?" he yelled out in the forest.

He heard no response, until… "I guess the info was right," a man's voice laughed from the forest.

"Yeah, Sasori of the Red Sand took on an apprentice, and here he is," another voice said. Seiko looked high up in a tree to see two men wearing black cloaks with red cloud patterns like the one Sasori wore.

"The Akatsuki!" Seiko spat. The men jumped down to face Seiko.

"We're just grunts, so don't worry about being discovered by everyone else yet. The higher-up wants to have a word with you alone, so we came to escort you too him," one of them said to him with an unfriendly smile.

Seiko looked around some more and said, "And what happened to my escort?"

"Him? Oh, we killed him," the other man said while the first laughed.

"Yeah, he was really easy to assassinate."

Seiko chuckled too, and reached into his belt.

"Stop right there, Kid, we don't _have_ to keep you alive. We specialize in assassinations, so killing you and removing the evidence will be easy. Don't go getting any ideas," the first man warned him.

Seiko pulled out a small scroll and flipped it in the air. "Oh, really? You guys are so tough because you can kill a thirteen-year-old. Well if we're boasting, how about I tell you about the time I killed two B-class ninja from the Akatsuki all by myself, in the middle of the forest?"

The second man got angry and said, "Was that a threat, Kid!"

"Calm down, Nobu, he's just a kid. You know the orders: if he doesn't cooperate, then dispose of him…and he doesn't look like he plans on cooperating," the first man said with a smile while Nobu pulled out a sword. He held the blade towards Seiko, and the metal started to spark with electricity. Seiko's face was mostly hidden by his large goggles and the shadow of his hood, but his grin was obvious to the two men.

"What are you smiling about, Kid!" Nobu asked.

"It's just that I've already won the battle, but you two won't know it until you're dead. I mean, come on, that's pretty funny, right?" After the words escaped his lips, he dropped a smoke bomb on the ground and engulfed them all in a purple cloud.

"When did he get that out!" Nobu asked his partner.

"He must have gotten it when he reached for the scroll!" coughed the other man. Seiko jumped out of the cloud and started to run.

"What idiots," Seiko said to himself. Soon the smoke cleared, and the two ninja chased after Seiko.

"Get back here, runt!" Nobu exclaimed.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" The partner breathed out a huge fireball, which headed straight for Seiko. Seiko was quick, and he jumped to the side to avoid the huge inferno. Then Nobu slashed down with his lightning sword. Seiko pulled out a kunai to block, but the blade cleaved through the knife and tore tore through Seiko's shirt.

"Missed," Seiko said, and he jumped up to knee Nobu in the face. Nobu was sent flying back into a tree.

"That kid is strong," he said agitatedly.

"Nobu, keep on him!" his partner said urgently. Nobu nodded and jumped back in for another attack. Seiko had a hard time sidestepping the slashes. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" said the partner. He fired three large balls of fire at Seiko. Seiko grinned a huge grin from high up in a tree, and he commanded his puppet down below as he saw the fireballs heading towards it. He motioned the puppet to grab a hold of Nobu before he could escape the inferno.

"What!" Nobu said. He tried to break free, but couldn't bust out of the incredible strength of what he thought was the real Seiko. The inferno hit both Seiko and Nobu, and when it cleared Nobu laid on the ground with burn marks all over his body. The puppet had lost its clothes, revealing the puppet joints and almost a thousand slits over its body. "What is that thing?" the partner wondered in shock. The puppet then unsheathed over two thousand serrated blades that made it look like some sort of machine from hell.

"Meet Yamaarashi, boys, my favorite puppet," Seiko whispered to them, even though he knew they couldn't hear him.

"H-help m-me." Nobu said to his partner, but the partner was frozen in place by the bladed puppet, which stood on all fours. "Puppet Master Jutsu: Quills of the Damned!" Seiko said, and on command every single blade fired out of the puppet. Over a hundred blades pierced Nobu, the trees, and rocks.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" the partner exclaimed in fear, and a wall of water erupted in front of him to block all the incoming blades. But the constant showering of blades was too much, and a single blade broke through and pierced the man's leg. When the onslaught of blades subsided, the man dropped and looked around in horror. Every blade had paper bombs attached to them…including the one in his leg. Seiko was high up in the tree with a grin on his face as he heard the two thousand explosions go off simultaneously.

"And then the two ninjas never bothered me again, the end," he said to himself triumphantly.


	5. Chapter 5:Escape

"Jeez!" Seiko whined as he walked through the forest with his head drooped in depression. "It's no good… I'm lost." He sighed and straightened out when he saw a cave off in the horizon. "I really hope that's it, if not I'm gonna kill something." He walked up near the cave, but quickly hid behind some trees when he saw several men wearing Akatsuki robes searching the cave.

Not good, people are searching the base. I still need to get in there, even if I can't get a hold of Sasori-sensei I need my belongings so I can retreat to another base,

Seiko thought. He listened to what some of the men were saying, but their distance from him made it hard to hear.

"Hey, you know where Nobu and Seji went off to?" one of them asked.

"I thought they said they found the boy and went off to get him," someone else answered.

"Maybe they got themselves killed; they were weak at anything involving direct confrontation," offered a third.

"I hope we get this job done soon. It's a long walk to the Hidden Rain Village," said the fourth and final.

Seiko sat quietly and listened to the grunts speak. Hidden Rain Village, huh? So that's where the higher-up is I guess. This would be much easier if Sasori-sensei told me anything about the Akatsuki, except that I should run away from them, Seiko thought to himself. He looked around in search of his Master, but saw no signs of Sasori. However, he did find a man wearing the same robes with long blonde hair in a ponytail, and a strange eye piece on his left eye. "So what's with the inspection?" the blonde-haired man said to the people in the cave. "This is too much of a pain, you know that?" He continued on, telling them more about his problems with the inspection, but no one listened. "Sasori, my man, get out here and settle this!" he called out in the cave.

Sasori came out inside of his Hiruko puppet. "Shut up, Deidara. If you keep yelling at them they will only stay here longer."

"Come on, man, they keep saying they're looking for a boy of yours," Deidara said exasperatedly.

"I know what they keep saying, you idiot!" Sasori retorted.

Seiko sighed as he kept hearing them bicker like an old couple. Seiko decided that he should lay low in town and moved back, but cracked a few twigs in doing so. "Shit," he said, and he started to run, not knowing if he had alerted anyone. Seiko kept up a full-out run, and looked back to see at least three people racing after him. "Damn, I can't believe I blew my cover. I must be having an off day," Seiko said to himself. Sasori and Deidara looked up to see Seiko running, along with the people chasing after him.

"Well, Sasori, my man, looks like the jig is up," Deidara said with a smug smile. "Should we go catch up to them before those grunts end up dead?"

Sasori grumbled a bit and said, "No, I will punish him later for keeping me waiting."

"Sounds like you're too tired to chase after him to me," Deidara said, nudging him with his shoulder.

"If you're so concerned, why don't you go get him?" Sasori said while walking back inside the cave.

"Maybe I will," Deidara whispered to himself. He got out some clay and created a model of a bird, then threw it to the ground and made a hand sign. The model of the bird grew to large proportions, and Deidara jumped on the bird's back while the bird started to flap its wings and fly into the air after Seiko. Seiko sighed and quickly jumped, then turned in mid air to throw out six kunais. One of the kunai pierced a person in the shoulder while everyone else evaded them, but the kunai had bombs attached to the handle. When they detonated, two people were instantly blown to bits, while the third one skillfully evaded the blast.

Seiko was shocked, and looked back at the guy closely to see that he had short black hair that laid down flat. He also seemed younger than most of the grunts that were at the base. The man pulled out a sword, and wind started to swirl around the blade. "Wind Style: Air Slash!" the man whispered, and he slashed the sword, creating an arc of wind that shot right at Seiko.

"What!" Seiko said, and he quickly pulled out a scroll. A puff of smoke encompassed him, and as soon as the arc entered the smoke it was blown away, leaving Seiko in front of his fully bladed puppet Yamaarashi. "Nice move, but this guy here is my best defensive puppet," Seiko said with a confident smile. The man stood opposite of Seiko and his puppet with a grim look on his face. "Don't talk much do you?" Seiko said to him.

"How? How did that thing withstand my attack?" the man asked.

"Well that's a start," Seiko said to himself. "It's made of a really strong wood, plus the blades help absorb the impact," he explained. The puppet lifted its arm and aimed at the man, and three serrated blades shot towards him.

The man blocked all of them with a kunai, and seeing the paper bombs he quickly jumped in the air. After the explosions he threw shurikens down at Seiko. Seiko moved Yamaarashi in front of him to block the shurikens and sent the puppet in for close range. "Got a name?" Seiko asked as he unleashed a volley of strong slashes at the man.

"Tsuyoshi Mai," he said quietly, and he then made a good hit that sent the puppet crashing in a tree.

He then charged Seiko, but Seiko made a hand sign and said, "Water Style: Watery Tar Field!" He spat out a large amount of water, which encased Tsuyoshi. Seiko chuckled and brought back his puppet, saying, "Good luck getting out of that." Tsuyoshi struggled, but he was completely stuck by the fluid, as if it were some type of glue. "So…tell me about yourself Tsuyoshi, how old are you?" Seiko asked while walking on the Tar Field with chakra at his feet to keep himself from getting stuck.

Tsuyoshi didn't stop trying to move, but he finally gave up and said, "Fourteen."

"Fourteen, eh? Well what is someone so young doing with the Akatsuki?" Seiko asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Tsuyoshi said quietly.

"I'm not affiliated with your weird organization, I'm just a kid whose teacher happens to be Sasori of the Red Sand."

"Sounds like your working with the Akatsuki to me," Tsuyoshi said with a smug smile. Seiko didn't like that comment, and turned around to leave for the village.

About thirty minutes later Deidara came down on his bird and landed next to Tsuyoshi, who was struggling to free his sword arm. "Having fun, Kid?" Deidara laughed amusedly. Tsuyoshi just gave him a glare and went back to struggling. "So, which way did he go?" Deidara asked.

"I don't need to answer that since you don't plan on letting him see the higher up," Tsuyoshi informed him.

"Nah, we plan on it since we can't hide him anymore, but knowing him, he went to that village that's nearby first and got lost," Deidara said to him. Tsuyoshi looked at Deidara with a confused expression and then looked in the direction Seiko ran off to. "Thanks, Kid, I'm sure someone will find you and get that jutsu off you," Deidara said with a smile as he flew off.

Seiko's head was drooped once again, and he slowly walked around. "I'm…so lost. Honestly, I have been in this forest a hundred times, so why can't I navigate through it!"

Deidara flew down in front of Seiko and said, "Hey Seiko-boy!"

Seiko looked up and sighed, saying, "What are you doing, Creep?"

Deidara bit back his irritation at his nickname. "I have told you over and over, I'm not a Creep!"

"No, but your hands freak me out and are creepy, so I just shorten it to creep. So what do you want, Creep?"

"I came to get you back to the base," Deidara said irritably.

"Why? The regular thing to do is go to another base," Seiko reminded him.

"That was before they found out you really existed, so now you can't hide. That would only make Sasori even more irritated if they constantly ran after you," Deidara informed him.

Seiko's eyes widened, as he had totally forgotten about Sasori. "Oh, crap!"

"Crap is right, you've been making him wait for a long time. I'm surprised he hasn't come after you himself," Deidara said to him.

Seiko wasn't listening to Deidara. Instead he was running at full speed in a random direction, hoping it was the right one. Deidara flew over him and called, "You're going the wrong way, Seiko!" Seiko quickly jumped up and landed on the bird Deidara was using for transport.

"Please take me back!" Seiko exclaimed as he panted from lack of breath.

"Okay, okay, calm down, Seiko. I'm sure he's not that upset, giving he circumstances," Deidara assured him.

"We'll see about that," Seiko whispered under his breath. When Seiko and Deidara arrived they were greeted by Sasori in his Hiruko puppet "Sasori-sensei!" Seiko called to him. He jumped down, only to be greeted by a metal scorpion tail to the ribs. Seiko was sent crashing into the trees, and he coughed up some blood, but still grinned from under the shadow of his hood.

"That grin of yours is creepier than my hand, Seiko." Deidara said without looking at him.

"I wont lie, I didn't expect an attack," Seiko said to Sasori.

"You kept me waiting for almost seven hours…and I know that you were lost for almost five of the seven," Sasori said in a cold, merciless tone.

Seiko felt embarrassed, but said, "Me, get lost? Out of the question. The great Seiko never gets lost!" He was then smacked down to the ground by the tail again. "Ouch!" Seiko yelled as he bounced across the ground.

When he finally stopped two other men wearing Akatsuki robes walked over to Deidara and Sasori. "Am I interrupting?" one of them said in a deep, careful voice.

"So this is the kid, huh?" the other one said. Seiko got up and examined them closely. He noticed the really weird one had bluish skin and strange, dark blue hair that seem to stick straight up. He also had a large sword covered in what looked like gauss tape. The other man was shorter than him, and had a deep black hair and a cold look in his eyes that almost reminded Seiko of Sasori. The only difference was this man's eyes showed nothing of the lifelessness that Sasori's possessed. It was clear that Deidara was doing his best to not send a clay bird at this man.

"Itachi… Kisame, what are you doing here?" Sasori asked with his gruff voice.

"We were sent here to make sure you brought the boy over to Pain," the black-haired man answered. "He said if you did not do so he would have us take him by force."


	6. Chapter 6:Shark vs Porcupine

Seiko was off to the side watching the two men closely. He did not have his usual grin because he could tell these people were not like the grunts he had just fought.

"And tell me this, Itachi, why would Pain need my apprentice?" Sasori asked in his gruff voice.

Itachi was silent for a long time until he answered back, "He didn't say."

By this time Seiko was done sitting around, and said "A better question would be why I would go with you." Seiko was as quick as lightning when he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a scroll, and in a puff of smoke revealed his strange-armed puppet from earlier with the pistons and slits.

"Seiko!" Sasori yelled, but before he could finish his sentence, Seiko's puppet was already going towards Itachi with his piston armed raised and the hundreds of blades guarding its torso. Itachi stood there without batting an eye, and did not even bother to put up a guard. The puppet came down onto Itachi with a shockwave from its incredible strength that created a dust cloud that shrouded Seiko, Itachi, and Kisame. When the dust cloud cleared, the blue-skinned man Kisame had his huge bandaged sword blocking the attack. Kisame looked at the puppet and then at Seiko, and said, "It's pretty strong kid, but it's no match for either of us." Seiko's eyes widened as he observed Kisame's sword and strength, and then he noticed the ground beneath him and saw that there was no damage done to the ground. Kisame was also firmly rooted on the ground, not even budging at the puppet's strength.

"I haven't even begun to show you my full power yet!" Seiko said with his grin slowly returning. Seiko then pulled out another scroll and revealed his Yamaarashi puppet, covered in its standard two thousand blades.

"Scary looking, but I doubt it packs a punch," said Kisame.

Sasori and Deidara were backing up from the fight, knowing what was to come. Itachi joined them and said, "Your apprentice seems a bit…"

"Hotheaded?" Sasori finished for him.

After a while of silence, Itachi said, "Yes. Hotheaded." Seiko came at Kisame with both puppets in a pincher attach, with both of the puppets' bladed arms going in for the kill. Kisame just chuckled and skillfully dodged Yamaarashi, and then swung his sword at the nameless puppet. On impact the puppet was annihilated, its parts scattered all over the area.

_This guy is too strong to take on in direct combat. I need a more agile approach with Yamaarashi while I sneak away, _Seiko thought, but he was soon interrupted by Kisame's sword being swung at him. Seiko guarded with Yamaarashi, which took most of the impact but was still blown to Seiko's left into a rock. The puppet flew out of the dust cloud into the air, and Seiko made several hand signs and said, "Water Style: Watery Tar Field!" The puppet spewed out a torrent of sticky liquid, but Kisame was soon out of the way of the attack, and the jutsu landed on nearby rocks and flooring. Seiko kept his eyes on Kisame and his movements, knowing if he didn't it would mean his defeat. Seiko dodged Kisame's next couple of swings to give him enough time to move his puppet in close combat with the enemy whom so resembled a shark.

Both the puppet and Kisame started to exchange swings and parries, but Kisame seemed to have the upper hand with his sheer power and skillful swordsmanship. "Take this," Seiko said under his breath, and he fired off three of Yamaarashi's blades at Kisame, who was only five feet in front of him. He blocked them all, but they soon surprised Kisame when the blades exploded in his face, engulfing him in a forceful inferno. After a moment, Seiko said, "Did I get him?" He now had his puppet floating next to him, waiting for a counterattack. When the inferno died down, he did not see Kisame in it or anywhere around it. Seiko had his guard up and constantly looked around him for any signs of the shark man.

"Water Style: Shark Bomb Jutsu!" Hiding near the ceiling, Kisame spat out three giant balls of water that took the shape of sharks, and shot down at Seiko. Seiko saw them coming and intercepted the jutsu with Yamaarashi's quills. The explosions dispersed the water jutsu, but gave Kisame an adequate smoke screen again. "I'm tired of this game of cat and mouse, Kid," Kisame said from behind the smoke.

"Then come get me," Seiko said with a confident grin.

Deidara, Sasori and Itachi were watching the fight calmly until Itachi said, "It's over."

"Don't underestimate the kid just yet!" Deidara spat bitterly. Kisame burst out of the smoke with his blade poised to strike, and Seiko also noticed that the bandages around the foot nearest the tip of the blade had been unwrapped, revealing a set of what appeared to be scales. They were blue, shiny, and incredibly sharp. Seiko sent in Yamaarashi to attack Kisame as well, but when the puppet's blade connected with Kisame's blade, a crater was gouged out in the ground beneath them. Kisame pushed back the puppet to give him enough time for a powerful strike at its torso. The attack sent the puppet flying back at Seiko like a cannonball. The puppet was traveling so fast that Seiko only had enough time to put away the blades on the puppet's back so he did not stab himself with his own weapon.

When the puppet crashed into Seiko, both of them were sent flying, but before they hit Kisame was suddenly behind them. He swung his sword and caught Seiko in the back, sending him flying over and smashing into the cave wall. Seiko fell to the ground, and his puppet rolled off him. "And now you're mine!" Kisame yelled triumphantly as he came down on top of Seiko with his sword raised. Seiko's sense had been knocked out of him from the assault, and he didn't even register that Kisame was coming until his massive body smashed into the ground on top of him. Kisame's sheer strength blasted up dust around the two of them, but Seiko leaped backwards out of it towards the center of the cave. There was blood running down one half of his face and into his eye, but he paid it no attention.

The dust cloud cleared to reveal Kisame with his sword pointed at Seiko, and a grin revealing his sharp, pointed teeth. Seiko pulled on his chakra strings, and Yamaarashi came to his defense. "I gotta tell ya, I'm really getting sick of that puppet," Kisame said, still with his grin. Yamaarachi shot through the air at Kisame with its blades raised, but Kisame swung his sword and bashed it aside like it was nothing, and then shot straight at Seiko. Seiko's eyes widened as he had no defense, so he simply pulled out a kunai. Kisame could simply laugh at this, and he brought his sword up, then swung it down on top of Seiko. Seiko leaped backwards into the air just before the strength of Kisame's swing blasted up dust off the ground. While Seiko was still in the air, Kisame shot up after him with his sword raised, and Seiko put his kunai out in front of him in defense.

"That's never gonna work, kid!" Kisame said as he swung his sword. The kunai went flying out of Seiko's grasp, along with some blood from a gash that the blade had put in Seiko's hand. Kisame laughed maniacally as he swung his sword one more time at the defenseless Seiko. Blood spattered through the air as Kisame's sword tore a gash into Seiko's stomach, while Seiko's eyes were wide in shock and horror. Seiko dropped to the ground, and Kisame landed ten feet away. "Like I said, Kid, you're just not strong enough yet," Kisame said to him. Seiko coughed up some blood and struggled to get up. The pain was blinding, and Seiko was fighting to keep consciousness.

"Seiko…stay down if you want to live," Sasori said from the cave entrance. After a long silence, Seiko grinned and adjusted his goggles that were coming off from all the bashing he was taking.

"Sorry, Sasori-sensei, but I have to show this shark freak what I'm capable of." Seiko reattached his chakra stings to Yamaarashi and positioned it next to himself.

"If that's the way you feel, then so be it," said Sasori. Yamaarashi lifted up its arms and aimed at Kisame.

"Try blocking this," Seiko whispered, and he then unleashed almost every blade the puppet had in its arms. Kisame ran to the side to avoid the blades, but the puppet was faster, flying in a circle around him and sending blades closing in from every direction.

"What!" Kisame said as he saw his escape route cut off by more blades. The explosions were powerful, and any normal person would be turned to ash, but Seiko knew his opponent was alive, just like last time. Seiko quickly sent Yamaarashi into the inferno, and as soon as the puppet entered the roaring cloud of fire, the sound of clashing metal rang through the air. When the explosion faded, Seiko saw his puppet locked in a fight with Kisame that seemed one-sided. Kisame was burned and only one hand seemed to function, so he was clumsily blocking the attacks of Yamaarashi, who had only two blades on its arms. The puppet came down with its right arm, and Kisame blocked, but soon after the left arm came in for the final blow. Kisame let out a small gasp as the serrated blade ran him through, and Seiko instantly broke into a grin about his victory.

"See, what did I tell you Itachi? He tends to surprise people," Deidara said with a grin that strongly resembled Seiko's.

"He is impressive, but if you look closely we both came here under the Shape Shifting Jutsu. He only had about twenty percent of his actual power."

"We already know," Sasori said nonchalantly.

At the same time, Deidara did a double-take over Kisame's body when he saw that it was indeed a duplicate body.

"What kind of jutsu is this?" Seiko said with a confused look on his face.

"It's a jutsu where our leader takes our chakra and can place it in a human sacrifice, creating a nearly perfect copy form which we can remotely control," Itachi said in his usual cold tone. "Does a jutsu like that really exist?" Seiko asked, looking at Sasori.

Sasori nodded and said, "Now that all that is done with, I think we should settle this issue. As you can see, Seiko here won't go easily."

Deidara slowly started to reach in the pouch on his waist and said, "I myself don't see any reason why he should go with you." Seiko put his puppet back into his scroll and put the scroll into his pocket.

"It's fine…I'll go, I want to see what kind of person your leader is anyway," Seiko said to the shock of everyone in the room.

Itachi looked at Seiko and said, "You heard him, Sasori."

"Shut up, I heard him just fine." Sasori looked at Seiko for a moment and said, "He will go with you, but before that I have something for him, so you will have to wait, Itachi."

Itachi nodded in acknowledgment, and then Seiko followed Sasori into the cave base. Seiko was panting from his exhausting fight with the fake Kisame, but said, "What do you have for me, Sasori-sensei?" Sasori opened a door and walked in, and then motioned for Seiko to follow. Seiko looked around and saw that he had entered Sasori's workshop.

"It's a puppet I think you will need. My plan was to give it to you when you decided you were strong enough to leave, or if you were ever discovered by the Akatsuki."

"A puppet? I've always made my own puppets from the start of my training, so why do you want me to have one of yours?" Seiko asked.

Sasori threw him a scroll, and Seiko caught it and saw there were characters written on it: _'Raritsu'_. "What kind of puppet is it?" Seiko asked.

"The details are in the scroll, but I don't want you to use it unless you have no more tricks up your sleeve."

"Puppet master rule number one: 'Save the best show for last,' right?" Seiko said.

Sasori nodded, and the two exited the room. "You have a long journey ahead of you, so get out of here. Itachi won't wait that long." Seiko wanted to ask more questions, but decided it was best to do as Sasori said, and walked out to join up with Itachi and Deidara.

Deidara looked at him and said, "Okay. I assume you're heading out now. I'm not gonna say any heartfelt goodbyes, because quite honestly, I'll be glad to be rid of you."

Seiko grinned and held out his hand. "See you around, Deidara," he said with a friendly tone.

Deidara looked at Seiko's outstretched hand and said, "I thought my hands freaked you out."

"They do," Seiko responded with a smile.

Deidara gave a smirk and shook Seiko's hand goodbye. "See you around, Seiko, my man."


	7. Chapter 7:Taking Things Easy

Itachi, and Seiko were on the road, their destination being northeast towards the Hidden Rain Village. It was then that Seiko noticed that their path was taking them directly east instead.

"Where are we going?" Seiko asked Itachi.

After a moment, Itachi said, "We are going to regroup with Kisame and his apprentice."

"That shark freak has an apprentice?" Seiko asked. Itachi nodded, and after about fifteen minutes, he finally came to a halt. "This is the rendezvous point."

Seiko looked around, silently noting the fact that they were surrounded on all sides by nothing but trees. "How can you tell?" Seiko asked.

Itachi remained silent until Kisame came down from the top of the trees along with the black-haired kid whom Seiko had fought earlier.

"You! You're Shark Freak's student!" Seiko said in shock.

Tsyuoshi just glared silently at Seiko until he said, "Yeah, that's right."

Seiko grinned and said, "Well you're obviously not that strong even though you're the student of this power house."

Tsyuoshi continued glaring, but didn't bother making a move. "Now, now, you two, you should get along at least for the rest of the trip," Kisame said with a grin.

"Yes, Sensei," Tsyuoshi said quietly.

Seiko just sighed and said, "Let's just hurry and get on our way. The faster we get there the faster I can get away from you freaks."

They now headed straight for the Village Hidden in the Rain. After a while of silently walking, Seiko walked up beside Tsuyoshi. "So...what's your story?" Seiko asked with a friendly grin. Tsuyoshi ignored him, which agitated Seiko. "Come on, it's a while 'til we get to the village, so we might as well make some small talk." "It's no good, Kid, Tsyuoshi here doesn't like talking if he doesn't have too," Kisame informed him. Seiko sighed and continued talking to Tsuyoshi anyway. "So, what are you skills?" he asked. Tsuyoshi continued to ignore him. "What are your likes and dislikes? Blood type? Height? Weight?" by this time Seiko was simply bored, and he kept asking question after question until, "What's your sword's name?"

Tsuyoshi kept quiet for a moment, but then said, "Sakugen Sora."

The sudden answer surprised Seiko, and he said, "So you can talk after all." Seiko examined the slender sword that had a slight curve in the middle of the blade. "That sword is definitely different from the behemoth that shark freak over there carries," Seiko said with a grin.

"Watch it, Kid, or you're gonna find this behemoth in your gut," Kisame warned.

"You mean like what my Yamaarashi did?" Seiko spat.

"Enough." Itachi's steely gaze silenced the entire company. Seiko sighed and started to talk to Tsuyoshi some more.

"Is it always like this?" he asked.

Tsuyoshi, seeming to have finally found his voice, said, "Yes."

"That's kinda disappointing," Seiko decided.

After a couple of hours they found a cave to camp in. "Tsuyoshi, go out and get some firewood," Kisame ordered.

Tsuyoshi nodded, and Seiko said, "I'm going to go with him, it's too boring sitting around with you guys."

Itachi sighed and Kisame seemed to be agitated by his comment. "Fine, but don't think about escaping," Kisame growled.

Seiko just gave him a half wave in acknowledgment and walked after Tsuyoshi. "So, what's your story?" Seiko asked as he picked up some branches.

Tsuyoshi sighed and quietly said, "Kisame stumbled upon me when I was a child."

Seiko looked up at this, and he chuckled, saying, "Kinda sounds like my past." After a moment, he added, "Except mine has a little bit more bloodshed in it." Tsuyoshi didn't respond to this, and instead just kept gathering wood.

After a while, Tsuyoshi finally said, "Bloodshed?"

"Yeah, it's not that big of a deal, plus I want to know more about you. You're stronger than you let on and I want to know where all that strength came from," Seiko stated.

Tsuyoshi paused and looked down at his sword. "My past...I left my village in order to find the legendary Phantom of the Hidden Mist, otherwise known as Kisame Hoshigaki. Some say he was the strongest swordsman ever, and I wanted to know how to use a sword."

Seiko grinned, and he said, "So why did you want to know how to use a sword?"

Tsuyoshi quietly replied, "In order to...protect the person I most admire." After that they headed back to the camp, and Seiko sighed when he saw Kisame.

"You're still here?" Seiko said to him.

"I'm the one taking you to the leader, so of course I'm here!" Kisame said angrily as he gripped his sword's handle more tightly.

"Kisame, please control yourself, he's just another brat." Itachi said, eating some rations.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, and Pain wants him alive and well when he sees him, but you know me Itachi, I can't stand little punks who always run their mouths," Kisame said with a scowl, showing off his shark-like teeth.

Tsuyoshi sat down and started to make a fire, and Seiko sat next to him. "I don't know how you can live with that shark freak," Seiko said to Tsuyoshi "His teeth freak me out the most."

Tsuyoshi looked over and smiled, showing off his own triangular teeth. "It's a common symbol among the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist," he said quietly.

Seiko grinned and said sarcastically, "Wow, that's some symbol." They both laughed a bit.

Kisame looked at both Seiko and Tsuyoshi laughing, and turned to Itachi. "I've never seen Tsuyoshi enjoy himself that much."

Itachi nodded and said, "No, neither have I."

Later on, while everyone else slept, Seiko got up from his sleeping bag and sighed, adjusted his goggles which were coming off from him tossing and turning in his sleep. "I gotta piss," he mumbled, and he walked out into the forest. After relieving himself he started his way back, but the campsite seemed to have disappeared. "I wasn't more than fifteen feet away from the campsite…so how did I get lost?" he asked himself.

Tsuyoshi came up beside Seiko rubbing his eyes "Who are you talking to?" he asked quietly.

Seiko looked up at him and just sighed, "I'm lost."

"What are you talking about, the camp is right over there," he said as he pointed to the campfire not more than ten feet away. "How did you ever become a ninja when you have such terrible sense of direction?" Tsuyoshi asked him.

"Shut up!" Seiko said in frustration, and he walked over to his sleeping bag so he could sleep the embarrassment away. "Glad Shark Freak didn't see that," Seiko whispered to himself.

"We both knew you got lost," Kisame said from his own sleeping bag.

After what would be considered a far cry from a good night's sleep, Seiko walked with Tsuyoshi and was examining the scroll his sensei had given him. _Ranritsu. You have such unbelievable power...I need to master you soon, but I can't do it with anyone around,_ Seiko thought.

Tsuyoshi looked up ahead to see a small village, and he looked up at Kisame and said, "Can we rest there?"

Kisame nodded and replied, "We already planned on it."

Seiko looked over at Itachi, observing his cold gaze that was so similar to Sasori and the attitude he displayed to those around him. Itachi was calm and controlled, but when Seiko looked at Kisame he saw the complete opposite. He was feisty, he loved to fight, and he seemed to always want to rip things apart. Seiko wondered how these guys could agree on the simplest decisions, let alone something that would take far more cooperation.


	8. Chapter 8:New Subordinate

Seiko and company finally made it to the outpost village and decided to take a break. "It will still be awhile before we make it to the Hidden Rain Village," Kisame said with a toothy grin. He then looked at Tsuyoshi and Seiko and said, "You can go get some supplies but don't take too long."

Seiko thought to himself with a sigh, _I don't need some shark man looking over my shoulder._ And he started to leave

"And don't cause any problems," Itachi added in his usual cold tone.

"Yes, Mom!" Seiko replied.

Seiko was walking down the road, looking at all the shops and small homes. "It reminds me of back home; I doubt they have their own weapons-dealing geezer though," Seiko said with a laugh. Seiko sighed and looked back, but no one was there; he only saw some lamp posts and scenery. "You can come out now," he yelled. Soon after, Tsuyoshi walked out from behind a lamp post. He looked disappointed. "Seriously, you have been following me since I left the shark creep and the depressing guy, what's up?" Seiko asked.

Tsuyoshi just looked at Seiko and then found his voice. "I was given an order to watch you incase…." He trailed off, becoming quiet again. Seiko adjusted his goggles.

"In case of what?"

"In case you got lost."

That put off Seiko, who then held a lamppost for support. "Is it that noticeable?" he asked irritably.

Tsuyoshi gave him a confused look and said, "Huh?"

"My terrible sense of direction! Is it that noticeable?"

"Well…yes. It's kind of hard not to tell that you have no idea where you are going.

Seiko dropped his head down and sighed. "Fine, tag along with me and make sure I don't get lost." he told Tsuyoshi. He turned around and walked off while Tsuyoshi followed behind. _This is really the guy who beat me?_ though Tsuyoshi.

Seiko visited a few stores before becoming bored and ready to go. "So where are we supposed to meet up with Fish-Face?" Seiko asked.

Tsuyoshi looked a bit annoyed with Seiko's phrase but said, "The nearby woods."

"What's with you people and meeting up in forests?" Seiko asked rhetorically.

Tsuyoshi lead the way until they found themselves deep in the forest. "This is it?" Seiko asked and looked around. "I figured they would be here first."

Tsuyoshi was quiet as usual. Slowly Tsuyoshi pulled out his Sakugen Sora.

Seiko was behind him, looking at him a little confused. "You sensing a presence I can't or something?" he asked. Tsuyoshi suddenly sliced behind him, aiming for Seiko's throat. Seiko jumped back to dodge it, and even though his face was hidden by the shadow of his hood you could tell he was grinning. "Up for round two, huh? Fine with me, but you may die this time." Seiko reached for the scrolls he carried on his belt and turned it around to see its name 'Ranritsu' "I may just make you my first victim." But Seiko then shook his head and said, "Nah, that would be a waste, it wouldn't even be considered training." He put the scroll back on his belt and replaced it with a different one. He placed this scroll on the ground and out came Yamaarashi.

Its blades shook around as the puppet got into Seiko's control. Tsuyoshi jumped at Seiko with his blade raised. Seiko used his thousand-blade puppet to block the sword, but the puppet was being forced downward little by little. _He's using wind nature chakra in his blade to give himself more cutting power,_ thought Seiko. Yamaarashi used a free arm to fire a dozen serrated blades at Tsuyoshi. The swordsman quickly jumped back and blocked a few. The blades he blocked fell on the ground in front of him and then exploded violently, enveloping Tsuyoshi. "My blades have bombs on them...you can't just block them so carelessly," Seiko told him.

The smoke cleared, and all that laid in it was a charred log of wood. Tsuyoshi came out from behind a tree and said, "Wind style: Wind Slasher Jutsu!" A blade of wind came off of Tsuyoshi's sword swing and came right for Seiko. Seiko yawned and blocked it using Yamaarashi's bladed body.

"Seen it, show me some different tricks," Seiko said, trying to aggravate Tsuyoshi. The swordsman kept his cool and kept himself away from Seiko and his puppet. Tsuyoshi made a couple hand signs and said, "Hidden Mist Jutsu." Soon the whole area was shrouded in a deep mist. "That's not bad, but as long as I keep Yamaarashi here then you can't really make a good attack," Seiko yelled out. Seiko kept his guard up and tried listening for any footsteps but couldn't hear anything. Nor could he sense any killing intent. After a moment, Seiko said to himself, "He's good. Earlier he made it seem as if he couldn't hide himself, but it was all just for this moment—tricky bastard." _But it won't help him if he doesn't come closer for an attack,_ he thought.

"Wind Style: Wind Slasher Jutsu." Wind blades came from all directions towards Seiko. Seiko was quick and had Yamaarashi block most of the wind blades coming at him except for one. Seiko rolled out of the way to dodge it. As Seiko got up from the ground, he saw Tsuyoshi and his blade in front of him. "Blood Hound Style: Throat cutter." he whispered. He slashed sideways with his blade, and Seiko's throat was cut, causing blood to spatter across the ground and Tsuyoshi's face. But soon Seiko's body turned into water and made a puddle on the ground. "A water clone?" Tsuyoshi wiped off his face to see it was only water and not blood. _I had my eyes on him the whole time, there was no way he could have used a water clone jutsu,_ Tsuyoshi thought to himself. "Unless he was a water clone-"

"The whole time?" Seiko's voice cut him off. Tsuyoshi turned around only to see Yamaarashi on his face and making the signature clicking sound that battle puppets make Tsuyoshi knew it was game, and he closed his eyes and waited for the blade to sink into him. Then Tsuyoshi was flicked in the forehead. "Tap, I win." Tsuyoshi opened his eyes to see Seiko in front of him instead of Yamaarashi.

"What? Where did your puppet go?" Tsuyoshi asked. He was a bit relieved that Seiko had not killed him.

"I put him away as soon as I blocked those Jutsus of yours," Seiko answered.

"W-why?" Tsuyoshi asked.

"Because I didn't need it anymore. I already won after that." Tsuyoshi just looked confused. Seiko sighed and said, "It was just a prank; I just used a transformation jutsu to make myself look like Yamaarashi." Tsuyoshi backed away from him.

"But…nobody would do something so reckless…and you were reading my mind…you…."

"Reading your mind, nah. I just knew what your thought process might be. You are kinda predictable."

Tsuyoshi put away his blade and got on his hands and knees and bowed. "Whoa, what is this?" Seiko asked with a little shock in his tone.

"Please let me serve you." Tsuyoshi requested.

"What are you talking about?" Seiko asked, bewildered.

"I wanted to see if I could kill you and see which of us was stronger…but you played me for a fool and foiled all of my attacks. I can usually take down anyone who is a B-class shinobi or lower with ease but you took me down like it was nothing. I admire you and would like to serve under you."

Seiko was grinning from beneath the shadow of his hood. "Not what I was expecting from someone like you, but who cares? You have skills and powers that I could definitely make full use of. Fine, you may serve under me. But let's get this straight….I am the boss and you are the underling."

Tsuyoshi stood up and nodded. "Yes, Lord Seiko."

Seiko laughed a little. "Now, for my first order…find out where we are…I'm lost."


End file.
